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Wednesday, 30 July 2014

Sibling Saturday: Anne Rawcliffe - Eldest of 8 Sisters

The Roskell Gravestone at St. Anne's Church, Singleton

This gravestone is the only photographic link I have with my great great Aunt Anne, the eldest sister of my great grandmother Maria. I have a soft spot for Anne and just wish I had a photograph of her.

For my research uncovered that Maria was staying with Anne and family at the time of her wedding to James Danson, and Anne named her own daughter Maria - so there must have been a closeness between the two sisters, daughters of Robert and Jane Rawcliffe of Hambleton, near Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire.

Anne's life, though, was marked by some sadness. She had an illegitimate daughter before her marriage, but Jane Alice (named after two Rawcliffe sisters) died at the young age of 14 in 1887. Five years earlier, Anne and husband Robert Roskell had lost their infant twin son Matthew who only survived three weeks. Robert died in 1894 leaving Anne a widow with two young daughters - Agnes 12 and Maria 8, and older son John.

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Anne's family history encompasses three names - Rawcliffe, Roskell and Hesketh - that were prominent in the Fylde -
the area of Lancashire between the River Ribble at Preston to the south and River Wyre at Fleetwood
to the north.Research through census records and parochial records traced evens in Anne's life.

Anne was born 1 June 1847
at Hambleton, and baptised 23rd June at the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Hambleton (right) - the eldest of eight daughters born to Robert and Jane Rawcliffe.

346 residents lived in Hambleton at the time of the 1851 census.

Ten years on in 1861, Anne was not listed with her parents and sisters, but may well
be the 13 year old Anne Rawcliffe, a house servant, resident with John
Rawcliffe, a taylor and grocer, his wife Barbara, 5 year old son Thomas and
apprentice Richard Parkinson.So far no
family connection has been traced between these two Rawcliffe families.

By the time of the 1871 census, Anne, at 23, was
back home with her father (by this time a widower) and two sisters Jane and Maria.

Anne married gamekeeper Robert Roskell at St. James,
Stalmine on 17th March 1874,the witnesses her sister Jennet with
her future husband Richard Riley. Internet contacts produced a wealth
of information on Roskell ancestors.

The 1881 census showed the family to be
living in the small hamlet of Thistleton at Thistleton Cottages (left). This fact, for the first time explained
why my great grandmother Maria's address was Thistleton at the time of her marriage to James Danson
in 1877 - presumably staying with her eldest sister and family – with James in
the neighbouring village of Singleton.

The 1881 census entry showed in the population of 386:

Robert Roskell

Gamekeeper

29

Born Garstang

Ann Roskell

Wife

32

Born Garstang

John Roskell

Son, scholar

6

Born Kirkham

Jane A. Rawcliffe

Daughter, scholar

8

Born Garstang

Anne’s birthplace, given as Garstang, could be a
mistake, as her birth record is clearly Hambleton. This was also the first knowledge of daughter Jane born c.
1873 before Anne's marriage, with Jane retaining her mother’s surname. Parish records at Hambleton noted Jane's baptism - with both her Christian names those of Rawcliffe sisters.

In 1882 the parish records of St. Anne’s Singleton
showed the baptism of Matthew and Agnes, son and daughter (twins) of Robert and
Anne Roskell, Thistleton and named after their paternal grandparents. Sadly
Matthew did not long survive and was buried at Singleton on 21 June 1882 aged just three weeks.

A daughter Maria (named after her aunt, my great grandmother) was baptised 14 February 1886.Burial records, however, showed a year later another
death in the family - Anne’s eldest daughter Jane Alice buried 4 May 1887 at
the young age of 14.

The 1891 census entry showed the two daughters Agnes and Maria with their parents - but no mention of their brother John who would be 16 years old.

Three years later, Anne's husband Robert died, buried 4 May 1894 at the young age of forty-two.

By the time of the 1901 census, Anne, then a 53 year old widow, had moved from
the hamlet of Thistleton to the busy fishing port of Fleetwood, where at 21 Kemp Street, her occupation was given as she was a grocer/shopkeeper,
living with her two daughters – Agnes A. Roskell aged 18, a
draper’s assistant, and Maria Roskell aged 15, a draper’s apprentice - both born Thistleton.

Come the 1911 census, I could find no trace of Anne, nor confirm a death. Then a spurt of inspiration made me look for her daughter Maria, to discover that Anne had remarried and was now Mrs Jenkinson married to John a retired farmer and living at Blakiston Road East, Fleetwood, with Maria - no occupation given. Helpfully the census entry noted that Anne had been married for two years.

Daughter Maria was to marry, on 2 May 1912 at St. Peter’s Fleetwood, William
Hesketh,(another prominent Fylde
surname), a telegraphist of 7 Hesketh Place, Fleetwood.Maria’s address was given as 4 Blakiston
Street and her age 27.The witnesses to
the wedding included John Roskell – Maria’s brother?On their third wedding anniversary in 1915,
son Frank was christened at St. Peter’s, with the family now living at Rose
Cottage, North Street, and William described as a clerk.

Sister Agnes could well be the Agnes Anne Roskell who married in the third quarter of 1901.

Anne Roskell, nee
Rawcliffe died 4 April 1928 and was buried, not in Fleetwood, but beside her first husband and young children at St. Anne's Church, Singleton. Her age on her gravestone was given as 79.

1 comment:

Your blog looks great and the addition of a picture in the top banner will improve it even more. I am sorry I missed this makeover challenge. Perhaps I will follow your example and add an ‘About page’ and a ‘Surname page’ to my own blog. I also really enjoyed this tribute to your great-grandaunt; she really did suffer more than her fair share of bereavements. Happy blogiversary, Sue, and here’s to many more!

About Me

I have been interested in family history for years. It all began when I was allowed as a child to look through the old family photographs and memorabilia kept in a shoebox in the cupboard at my grandfather's house. That treat started me on a fascinating ancestral trail.